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At the end of The Fabulous Riverboat, Sam Clemens finally set out in the great iron riverboat Not for Hire to reach the headwaters of the river on whose shores humanity has been resurrected. After 33 years on the river, Clemens & crew--including the giant subhuman Joe Miller--are near the end of their journey. Only one obstacle remains: the evil king, John Lackland. John is waiting just upriver in the Rex Grandissimus, the 1st riverboat Sam constructed, the one that John & his crew hijacked. He's hell-bent on sinking Sam's boat & vice versa. Complicating the battle is the fact that both ships likely contain agents of the Ethicals, the group of advanced beings who created Riverworld for reasons unknown. Ethicals may even be on board, as are various humans that the rebel Ethical, known as the Mysterious Stranger (known to Clemens as X), enlisted in his cause, which may or may not lead to humanity's salvation. The battle is set to take place along the shores populated by members of the Church of the 2nd Chance, a group seeking ethical perfection in order to proceed to the next phase of existence. The 2nd Chancers aren't violent, but their charismatic leader, La Viro, may attempt to sink the iron ships in order to prevent the battle. Among the 2nd Chancers is former Nazi officer Hermann Goring, who had a run-in with Sir Richard Burton in the 1st Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Burton & companions--among them several people who were contacted by the Mysterious Stranger--are reluctantly serving on John's boat in order to reach the headwaters. Will any of the humans working for X survive the coming battle? If so, how can they hope to penetrate the tower in the North Sea where the Ethicals are thought to reside? What could humans hope to do against a race so advanced that they can reshape entire planets & resurrect all humans?--Craig E. Engler (edited)

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Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.